1919: A Year of Strikes in the Canadian West

1919: A Year of Strikes in the Canadian West

Anti-strike banner, Winnipeg, May 15, 1919. Public Archives of Manitoba

"In May of 1919 a heat wave crossed the province. Edmonton had reached temperatures of 85 degrees. Like the heat wave a mood of union militancy was in the air across Alberta, indeed across Western Canada. A strike wave would soon erupt sweeping the West like a prairie fire.

"The press of the day was full of stories about the Armistice with Germany. In editorials and front page stories the press railed against the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, denouncing radical unions and alien workers, infected with Bolshevik ideas. The government and the editorialists agreed that the solution to stopping radical ideas was to deport foreigners; especially Hutterites, Mennonites, Dukhbours and those damn radicals in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

"The Mathers Royal Commission on Industrial Relations was going across Canada trying to fathom the unprecedented series of strikes that had been happening, since January, from Nova Scotia to Victoria. Many of these strikes were short lived, but as soon as one was resolved another would spring up. They affected all industries and all levels of society. Miners struck in Nova Scotia and in the Rockies. Street Car workers in Toronto and Windsor went on strike. Even housemaids held a week long strike. The issues were the same; workers wanted an eight hour day, one day off in seven, and recognition of their unions."

Sources for Further Study at the University of Washington Libraries and Beyond

"Mr. McDaniel from B.C. was given the floor and he explained that the strikers needed funds in Canada. That he wanted credentials from the [Seattle] Metal Trades so he could visit various locals and solicit funds. He was granted the credentials."

Canada. Royal Commission on Industrial Relations. Report of Commission appointed under Order-in-council (P.C. 670) to Enquire into Industrial Relations in Canada, together with a Minority Report and Supplementary Report. The Honorable Chief Justice Mathers, of Manitoba, Chairman. [Ottawa: 1919]. On order

Vancouver

Bernard, Elaine. "Last Back: Folklore and the Telephone Operators in the 1919 Vancouver General Strike" in Barbara K. Latham and Roberta J. Pazdo, eds., Not Just Pin Money: Selected Essays on the History of Women's Work in British Columbia(Victoria: Camosun College, 1984). Special Collections PNW HD6100 .B7N68 1984

Phillips, Paul Arthur. No Power Greater: A Century of Labour in British Columbia.Vancouver, B.C.: Federation of Labour and Boag Foundation, 1967. Special Collections PNW HD6529 .B7P45

Winnipeg

Avery, D. "The Radical Alien and the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919" in Carl Berger and Ramsay Cook, eds. The West and the Nation: Essays in Honour of W. L. Morton(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, c1976). Suzzallo General Stacks F1060 .W38

Bumsted, J. M. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919: an Illustrated History.Winnipeg: Shillingford, 1994. On order

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